Cantor Deborah Katchko-Gray's CD of Passover seder songs rests on a seder plate in her Ridgefield home Friday, March 23, 2012.

Cantor Deborah Katchko-Gray's CD of Passover seder songs rests on a seder plate in her Ridgefield home Friday, March 23, 2012.

Photo: Michael Duffy

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Cantor releases new CD for Passover

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RIDGEFIELD -- Sitting in a cozy kitchen, adorned with religious and eclectic art and a cello-shaped mirror on a wall, Deborah Katchko-Gray, cantor at Temple Shearith Israel, strums a Passover song on her guitar.

All in Hebrew, the 16 selections include songs sung around the Seder table from the time she was a child in a family with male cantors dating to her great-grandfather.

The songs illuminate the story of emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt.

She said she can remember the baritone voice of her father, Cantor Theodore Katchko, as he taught the lessons of Passover: gratitude, compassion and hope.

Passover is about tradition, from the foods eaten, the prayers read and the songs that accompany them, Katchko-Gray said.

More Information

Songs of the Seder
"Passover Seder Songs'' is the latest compact disc by Temple Shearith Israel Cantor Deborah Katchko-Gray.
The CD is available for $10 at the temple office, call 203-438-6589; at Books on the Common and the Cutting Board Cafe, both in Ridgefield; and at Ridgefield Organics & Specialty Market.
It can be purchased online at CD Baby.

The eight-day observance is a time to reflect on how the Jews suffered as slaves and to commit to eliminating the suffering of others today, she said.

"The music and text fill the Seder (meal) with meaning," said Katchko-Gray, who became a cantor in 1981. She was a student of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel at Boston University.

For this year's Passover celebration, Katchko-Gray will solo during her family's two Seders. The songs will be those from her just-released CD, the first specific to a holiday.

This recording actually stemmed from a congregant's suggestion that she make a CD for Passover.

She reached back to the melodies and words from her religious upbringing to enrich others' observance. The challenge was that she had no sheet music from which to arrange the latest work. Rather, she said, she relied on "my heart and my head."

She partnered with guitarist Jay Hefler, of South Salem, N.Y., and moving for the first time on a recording beyond her voice and guitar, she played the cello, the instrument she plays in the Danbury Community Orchestra.

Katchko-Gray, 55, said music has long been a tool to reinforce the messages of Biblical scripture and the stories of one's religious ancestors in Judiasm as well as other religions.

"Whenever you have a festival, music gives us pause. Through it, we share our humanity," said Katchko-Gray, a cantor at Temple Shearith Israel for 13 years.

She lives with her husband, Dr. F. Scott Gray, and together the couple has six sons, ranging in age from 17 to 28.

"The role of worship and ritual can ground us, especially in a world that feels more and more out of control," she said.

In Lent, the season preceding Easter, the crucifixion of Christ and his resurrection, Karsinski said music and instrumentation play key roles, with liturgical churches halting all use of the organ until the great vigil of Easter, when the churches erupt with a "joyful noise."

Music gives voice to the intangible, which is the essence of faith: "That which we cannot see; the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen," Karsinski said.

"To hear the traditional melodies ... and to continue that musical tradition ... is precious," Katchko-Gray said. "It gives you a sense of belonging."